Show ARID FARMING IN UTAI BY DR JOH1T A WIDTSOE 1 I Is becoming moro and more apparent ap-parent that the dryfarm Industry Is 1 in Utah to stay and that Its growln In importance Tf 1 Is 1 coming abou as n result ot the need of making som good use oC tho vast areas of land that arc not at the present under Irrlga itlon canals or that may not for many jjears to come be Irrigated or that perhaps will never be Irrigated These lands at tho present time are usual highlying lands often far from largo I streams to Irrigate which requires the construction of exceptionally costly reservoirs dams and canals Many Utah valleys are also far removed from tho main water supply of the State that It Is probable that water will be carried past other thirsting lands to thee outlying places Tbo building or irrigation orks Is n venture In which profits and losses arc considered and ac I best therefore Irrigation will be practiced on the comparatively low lying floors and sides of the valleys Then only In the most accessible districts I dis-tricts where the area of land redeemed I will be commensurate with the cost of tho canal Tho future development of Utah will necessarily depend upon tho extension ot the old irrigation systems and the creation of new ones Still when the best systems of irrigation shall be in 1 operation there will not bo water enough to cover all of tho lands of Utah There will still be found tracts of land lying above and beyond tho leach of irrigation l canals These un irrlgated lands aro now for the greater great-er part lying Idle covered with the plants characteristic of Western des I erts the luxurIant growth of which indicates in-dicates tho great fertility of the soil In many districts especially In Ca hand h-and Salt Lake valleys these lands have been brought under a system of culture cul-ture without irrigation In the central and southern portions oC the State however as well a some parts of the north there is a strong belief that dry farming will not be successful jwhllo there Is an equally strong faith Jn other place backed by some years of experience that dry farming pays i i fair profit o the capital and labor expended and that the practice will I extend ultimately overa large portion j df the State > The Utah Experiment station during the past summer has undertaken an elaborate investigation into thepossi Investgton tl1 ssI bilities and conditions of dry farming in the various parts of the State Tho results of this investigation prepared jointly by J A Wldtsoo and L A Merrill are now lathe press and will soon be issued as a bulletin from the experiment station Meanwhile it maybe may-be of interest to present a brief summary sum-mary at the more Important results that have been obtained from this in vcstigatlon F1rstft must be said thfct 0 plane cannot grow without the presence of a certain amount of water Investigations Investiga-tions conducted In Germany and In Wisconsin indicate that to produce cue ton of dry matter of a crop say wheat or lucerne requires the expenditure ex-penditure of between four and five hundred tons of water In this way then a wheat crop of twentyfive bushes bush-es 1 to the acre would require approximately approxi-mately S41 tons or 16SSOOO pounds of Water Under the arid conditions of Utah the amount of water required by plants Is considerable greater Experiments Experi-ments conducted at Logan have shown that when an abundant Irrigation Is practiced and where no water is allowed al-lowed l to run oc or soak through the soil between eleven and twelve hundred hun-dred tons of water are required to produce pro-duce one ton of dry matter On a dry farm doubtlessly a smaller amount is i required Still the quantity is certainly cer-tainly aa groat or greater than the quantities required under the humid climates of Germany or Wisconsin These immense quantities of water are obtained on the dry farm from the water that is precipitated upon the ground in Che form of rain and snow I has been calculated that to produce twenty bushels of wheat tan t-an acre would require anannual rainfall rain-fall equal to 1li inches providing however that alltne water ontc Into in-to the soil and that none drained pff so that the tpeplarl could use every particle of water added to tho solls This of pourse is possible tint the above calculation is aibereil one ltth there are rots on hand thatshow I that In the valleys where dry farming has been made successful the annual rainfall seldom exceeds twelve Inches and still the avcrager crop of dry farm wheat In these places has ce9 varied wit the season from fifteen to twenty five bushels of wheat to the acre The pertinent question1 then A 1 In what parts or the Stale is < tiTe rainfall 1 50 great that successful I fajmlhg dry rD np is probable Tbe rainfall data1 ob tained lby the US Weather bureau for this State furnish a rTappro 4ij answer to thin question I the State be divided Into f three sections the Kortbcrn Including roughly 1 that por tion of the State which lies Ic north of an cast and west line drawn lne Provo and tho middle section through tht rnlddl secton extend lug south from the middle line through I Ino Provo to the northern boundaries of Beaver Pluto and Wayne counties and the Cne countes southern section extending secton from the southern boundary of inS middle section to the Arizona line we shall flnel that the rainfall is lne fol lows In the southern Section the ave rage annual ralnfa11 including rain anil snow Is 131j Inches 11 the 1nldqlo section 1375 Inches and in tho south ern section 5 Inches 1hos01lth This shows that the northern and middle sections receive an annual raln 1all which Properly conserved iii the soil should bo sufficient to produce twenty bushels of wheat to the acre without the artificial application of nLW Jt may he remarked Hat there are a few iocalitles IUlln 10c11tes these two districts that receive a smaller amount of rainfall and in which therefore the feasibility of dry farm ing cannot 11 < predicted with certainty I is a common idea that Sanpete Se vler Juab and Mlllard counties llard are ex countes tremely dry This idea is correct only When irrigation is considcied for it is true that the watersheds dralnln westward Into thcso counties are small But with reference to dry farm conditions the middle section H not much If at all Inferior to the northern divISIon In the southern section on the other hand the rainfall in pos places is so small as to make it necessary that experiments on the subject be undertaken before anything definite can be saidabout the pofeslbll tot dry farming However there can be no question about tho suitability suitabil-ity of tho country around Parowan for dryfarm purposes and of the valleys leading from Pluto county southward Into Kanab A stiffly of tho rainfalL l A data as far as they are available certainly cer-tainly Indicate that n largo portion of the State now looked upon as hopelessly hope-lessly dcsrt In its nature may be cultivated cul-tivated without Irrigation In this connection question Is often of-ten asked whether the proximity of the northern dryfarm districts of the State to Great Salt lake is I benefit to crops growing without irrigation 1 is true that only meager data exist on this subject and those In our possession pos-session Indicate that tho influence of the lakes on tho growth of dryfarm grain la do slight as to unworthy of serious consideration The question relating to the storage of water In Utah sols has been investigated inves-tigated with some very surprising re Hults I is a common idea also that the soils of the State whero Irrigation haa not been practiced arc dry as dust to great depths This has been shown to be erroneous Borings have been made In sections of one foot to n depth of ten feet in various JocaJitlca in the northern part of the State Tt has been shown Invariably that the SQl afte the first foot contain considerable considera-ble quantities of later hat may be used by plants jjrowfng on these soils In foot In son soils J In the first ten feet Is conserved an amount of water c9l 3nnmqunt Ori which is equivalent to the rainfall of the last thpcV carl that have fallen upon that soil and one may 10 to greater and atlll find h9 soils tolerably moist I The property that makes this storage of water in Utah soils possible their great depths Utah soils like all those produced by arid conditions arc generally gener-ally very uniform to great depths in chemical and physical properties The large valleys that constitute an Impor consttute itant portion oL the State have level l tplalnIlkc floors the bottom soils of which are often 100 to 200 foot deep and every foot Is suitable for agricultural agricul-tural purposes especially for the storage stor-age of water I THore are of courucl sonio shallow Rplls In the State whlohj occur mostly 6ntho benches nearUhbl 10U mostlYQDl10 4Phese are old del1 1n left by tIllS prelilstorlo Lake Bonhc vlllc that played soclmportant apart in 1 the making r < the agricultural l soilsof < the westeri half of the Slatb The prevailing pre-vailing d 1Qf Ufah soils makes 1 iC possible for a large quantity of watcr to be stored lin them Qua average agricultural ag-ricultural soils of the State under ordinary or-dinary conditions are able to retain In each foot an amount of water lhnllS approximately equivalent to 3 L Inches J 0C hlnf1 Ihe avertlge total railiflilt lotfl rQI fall for utah Is 125 IIlcIes which then c tld be rtrdncc by abOuI 3 i i teet of soiL According to tills calculation Q tPtllsc1culrtQn farm the soU of which Is GV feet deep can lctain thou t loss by draiqns the total rainfall for two years If t feet deep tho rainfall for three years and so on The Important problom before the dry farmers In any portion of tho State is to put the top soil of his farm In such a condition that water falling upon It will soak into It and remain there until needed by tho plants Much has been said about the kind of I soil best adapted for dry farming Some hold that dry farm wheat can be grown onjy on sandy soils others maintain 4hat a hen clay soil Is Indispensable Lo test these views examinations were Triade on numorousdfy farm onl which flrstclass crops of wheat were growing grow-ing I was found that the soil varied from a coarse sand to the heaviest adobe clay We are therefore led to the belief that the physical nature of the soil is of less importance than its depth which makes possible the storage stor-age of water I may be remarked here too incidentally that the shallow soil is generally unfit for dry farm purposes no mater how fertile it may be simply because it cannot store sufficient water to supply the needs of the crpp A deep soil Is the first requisite An Intelligent gent farmer who Is about to try dry farming will examine the soil of his farm to learn whether it iu deep enough to store the annual precipitation There are In a lew localities soils that are naturally subIrrigated On such toils may be grown of course almost any kind of crop with success The practice is I not really dry farmIng IngPractice Practice has demonstrated that dry farming Is a paying proposition in Cache Weber Davis Salt Lake Utah and part of Box Eiir counties In jJiiab andsTopele counties also a few trials have shown the feasibility of dry farming Out l eot these localities attempts at-tempts have rarely been made and asa as-a rule thereis n strong opinion In many places that ury farming has reached the limits ors possibilities In the State A study of the soil and climatic mate conditions the State leads to the conviction that few localities aro holy unsuitqd for farming without irrigation There are large tracts in the north around Bear Lake that ap pear promising There arc districts In Summit Wasatch and Ulntah counties that possibly wjll raise dryfarm grain successfully There can be little ques lon nbout the favqrablc conditions in Tooel Juab and Mlllard counties where the Insufficient jvater supply will of necessity result In large dryfarm districts ace and l Sevler counties will llkvlse faJl Into line and utilize many onf > their waste l lands when suitable suit-able methods of culture shall have been developpd foi > horn Jn Carbon Emery Wayne anfl the western part of Garficfd cpuntles some careful experimentation would enable a positive statement to be made Grand andSan Juan coun ties should also bosubjected to careful tests before certain cpncluslons can be drawn There I canbo no doubt however how-ever that n the alleys from Circle Crcle yule to Kanab i In PhAte Garlleld and Kop counties and nl Jthe sides of tee great basin In Beaver and Iron counties dry farming can b6 practiced ducc9ssfully armlng praotecd sUlIt is still an open ques ton whether the western halves of Juab Mlllard IIlard Beaver and Iron coun ties can be cultivated cullvatod profitably with proftrbl wih out Irrigation but the probability Is i that correct methods of tillage win make dry farming possible in these wi tricts In the lower parts of Washing on county Cry farming will probably never be very profitable though profable thoUbh n good reasons exist against tho practice in the higher parts practco The qestlon of crops for dry farming Is also of great InJLcrest Up to the pros cot wheat has been the main crop Of late however luncorno has alsQ been adopted Tile first crop Is grown for hay and the second for seed with very satisfactory financial returns No doubt as time goes on new crops of great roightreslstant qualities will be ob alncfl which will add to tho posslhlll lea of tho dry farm On the station farm Prof Merrill has stnton growing some very tine corn without Ir wihout Igation The yield in some cases has been twothirds that of the irrigated1 Jrrlgated crop As remarked above the dry farmer must give especial attention to thb sur thUfUl face soil of tihe farm so that the rains may bo allowed to soak deeply Into tile ground Deep ploughing and in many uses subsolllng is therefore a mlny most profitable practice Pall ploughing Fal IK i or almost equal importance since so much of the precipitation occurs clpltalon QCcur during he fall and winter months durlns meats that have been conducted on tho relative values of fall and Imrlng ploughing on dry farms have st own that the fallploughed land In at least ofio case contained onefourth onfoUth more moisture In the middle oc the cummer than did the sprlnsplou tlcGunune he dry farm the roots of lane must go down deep in their search after water and this too Is facilitated by deep and frequent tillage I need not perhaps bo said that when spring opens and the hot sun begins to beat down on the farm it is very necessary that the ploughed ground be harrowed and smoothed carefully so as to produce a surface layer of dry earlh which will check evaporation from the soil Fallowing is I also a very important operation on the dry farm A vigorous crop of wheat may exhaust the soil KO completely of the water that It contains con-tains that the precipitation of tile following fol-lowing winter will not be sufficient to mature a good crop tho next summer In such a case the land should be allowed al-lowed to lie fallow during tho following year so that It can accumulate moisture mois-ture then at the end of the fallowing period the crop has the rainfall of two years upon which to draw It Is necessary neces-sary to remember that dryfarm fallowing fal-lowing Is not practiced so much In order to maintain the soil fertility as to maintain I main-tain the store of water In the soil In a district where the rainfall IB very small It may be necessary to crop the land but once every three or four years to allow an accumulation of moisture sufficient suf-ficient to produce hood crops Every dry farmer will Jood study his own conditions and Determine hip policy according ac-cording to tho knowledge of his particular partic-ular needs For tho filler consideration of the points here touch a upon and numerous other questions reference Is made to the forthcoming bulletin No 71 on Dry Farming In Utah I may be said however that this Industry which promises to develop thousands of the desert acres of the State should be given more careful attention than It has hitherto received There Is an unreasonably unreason-ably strong prejudice manifested Hginst the practice of dry farming in Various parts of the tatc If brief c poriments could be carried put In dlf fcronf localities J that would demonstrate Ihe ppsnlblllty of successful dry farmIng farm-Ing It would result Ina great Impetus to the Industry But few farmers will take up dry farming as an experiment < It sqems as though the State could with propriety establish > a few experimental experi-mental farms to be run four or five years or until the feasibility or Im praotlcablllty of the industry In a certain cer-tain locality had been demonatratedr trhls is at the present time one of thereat the-reat needs of this Industry Then again f dry farmers as well as irrigation farmers need to possess varieties of wheat and other crops that arc specially special-ly adapted to growth under dry condi ton These experimental farms could at tha panic time test the varieties of crops orthell powers to withstand j drought Thus new varieties of great value could be introduced among tho tanners Tho conservatism that has been opposed op-posed to the progress of dry farming In the State Is gradually van hlng Some years ago successful farmers of Juab county told the writer that they knew It was impossible to raise dry farm wheat In Juab valley Last sumner sum-ner the wrier had tho pleasure of see lag several hundred acres covered with fiiHtclass fields of wheat to which not a drop of irrigation water had been ap pled This is only what might have been expected for the rainfall and the oils of that county arc admirably l adapted to tho needs of dry farming many places where dry farming has lever been practiced or where somo armor who did not understand the pro 110 ess o dry farming had failed Ole or two successful demonstration expcrl nenta would lead to the extensive use of the present dry untlllcd lands oC hose localities Tho past three years have been uri usimlly dry and the fact that dry farm lug has been successful under the most aderse conditions the State has known peaks greatly for the possible success iOf the Industry under better iioasoni and with Improved mothods of tillage |